Rental cars

Hi Everyone!

We are looking at renting a car in Curacao. I have done some research, but need some advice. Is the Avis car rental place at port the way to go? Or can we walk to another car rental agency in town? There are a lot of locations on Priceline, but I just don’t know which ones are close enough.

Thank you for any advice that you may have! -Lisa

There is an Avis at the port but the hours are really short. We arrived early afternoon and it wasn't open so we had to pick up at a nearby hotel (10min walk away). The lady at the Avis hotel location wasn't friendly at all. Picking up took almost an hour and the staff member hardly spoke English which made it hard to discuss things. Further, we booked a 12 seater van only to get there and find out they didn't have any. They gave us 2 vehicles instead for the same price. This meant we had to have someone that wasn't planning on driving drive. And the 2 had 11 seats in total. We had to put 5ppl in a 4 seater.

We chose to return the car to the cruise port to avoid walking back at night. The location was difficult to find .

It was an annoying experience.

I've heard good things about the private company in town. I forget the name.

We have been to Curacao on about 2 dozen cruises. To be really honest, we have yet to find a decent, reliable, rental car company on that island. Curacao has a very laid back attitude when it comes to just about everything...and that also applies to the rental car companies. Over the years we have rented (many times) from the Avis office located right at the Mega Pier. In every case, they were open when we arrived (they tend to be open in the morning, close around 11-12, and then re-open later in the afternoon when cars are being returned. The quality of the cars generally sucks (this is being kind) and is nowhere near the quality one would normally expect from Avis. On the other hand our cars have always run and never left us sitting.

Getting back to the Avis Mega pier office, it does seem to operate at one of two speeds, slow and slower! It is normally staffed by a friendly lady (at least she has always been nice to us) who moves at "island speed." Our cars have always been parked just outside the office (very convenient to the pier). Would we gamble on them again? Yes, because they are the only convenient rental car office. But we always have a "Plan B" which would be to do something else...if our rental car plan failed :).

A word about the fuel situation. In some cases the tank will not be full (or even near full) and they will ask you to bring it back showing about the same level. This is hit or miss on trying to put in the right amount of gas...but we sure do try. And most of the time we return our car there will be somebody to check us in....and we make sure there are no issues (with the car or gas). But I would be cautious if returning when nobody is at the office and you just drop. Our normal habit is to take pictures of the car and fuel gauge when we pick it up...and again take photos when we return. If there is an issue with them trying to overcharge us for gas, we would likely put that amount into dispute with AMEX (we love that credit card for this kind of issue).

And finally, as one who rents cars all over the world....we find that rental car agencies are like rolling the dice (with the odds against the customer). It is just the nature of the beast and one should take every caution to protect themselves (pictures can be very helpful). These problems even happen here in the USA.

Hank

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences in such detail! It is greatly appreciated!!!

-Lisa